Monogenean parasites from Pseudocrenilabraus philander (Weber, 1897) in the middle Limpopo River Basin (South African region).
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| Year of publication | 2015 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Description | The Southern mouthbrooder, P. philander, with its opalescent blue and pale yellow colours could become an important ornamental fish. Its distribution in southern African region covers the Orange River and southern KwaZulu-Natal Province northwards throughout the region and extends to southern Congo tributaries and Lake Malawi. In South Africa, P. philander has been spread unnaturally since its introduction in 1941, as a consequence of the transportantion beyond limit of native range and direct releasing into novel environments. Fish were collected using an electroshocker during two seasons, July 2013 (winter, W) and January 2014 (summer, S), from two sampling spots, representing tributaries of Limpopo River from both Zimbabwean (ZIM) and South African (SA) sides where 20 specimens from each locality and sampling season were sampled. The localities were Nwanedi River, Nwanedi Nature Reserve (SA) and Bubi River, Bubiana Conservatory (ZIM). The fish were examined in a field laboratory and recovered monogeneans were fixed in glycerin ammonium picrate solution. Morphometric analysis of the hard structures of the attachment organs and male copulatory organs reaveled presence of monogenean parasites representing three genera. The only species of viviparous parasites of the genus Gyrodactylus (von Nordmann, 1832) was recorded from the fins during the summer in SA and from only one fish. In the stomach, the infections of endoparasitic monogeneans of the genus Enterogyrus (Paperna, 1963) were recorded in S-SA and W-ZIM with a prevalence of 35% in both cases, and identified as Enterogyrus coronatus Pariselle, Lambert & Euzet, 1991. Four species of the genus Cichlidogyrus (Paperna, 1960) were recorded from the gills. The species composition and prevalences differed significantly between the localities and sampling seasons. |
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